Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood demanded the sacking of immigration minister Mike Tapp on Thursday night after he wrote an unauthorised article about care workers — but Downing Street insisted he remained in post and no decision had been made.
Tapp wrote in The Times that it was his “strong belief” that foreign care workers who had “played by the rules” should not face longer waits for settlement. Mahmood was unaware he had written the article, a source close to her said.
“Shabana Mahmood demanded sacking of Mike Tapp for unauthorised article; No 10 refuses, leaving row unresolved.”
A Home Office source told the BBC: “Mike Tapp is expected to be sacked for breaching the Ministerial Code. He has taken possible ideas that the home secretary and her team were working on, and briefed them as his own to try to win a job in the new administration.”
The Ministerial Code states that ministers should be able to “express their views frankly in private while maintaining a united front when decisions have been reached.” On that basis, Mahmood believes Tapp should be dismissed.
But No 10 has so far refused to officially sack him. Downing Street sources said “no decision” had been made by the prime minister, and that it was up to Starmer to judge standards of ministerial behaviour.
The row comes as senior Labour figures tussle for leading roles in the incoming administration of Andy Burnham, expected to take power as early as 17 July. Last month, Mahmood privately told Starmer she believed he should publicly announce plans to leave Downing Street.
The government is about to introduce the Immigration and Asylum Bill, expected before the House of Commons next Tuesday. Ministers want to double the time for most migrants to qualify for permanent residence from five to 10 years, with care workers facing a 15-year wait and benefit claimants 20 years.
Tapp had been involved in ministerial discussions about exempting care workers from the proposed reforms. A source close to Mahmood said he had taken an idea from those discussions and attempted to pass it off as his own in the Times article.
The standoff exposes deepening divisions between Starmer and his home secretary as Labour prepares for a new era under Burnham.